


We Are Back On Track

by Megpryor



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 10:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27469300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megpryor/pseuds/Megpryor
Summary: EDITORS NOTE:  American Debate Magazine asked Former President Josiah Bartlet to comment on this latest tumultuous election. While we did not expect him to do so, he surprised us. We are pleased to present his thoughts and wish him well.
Kudos: 8





	We Are Back On Track

**We Are Back On Track**  
by Josiah Edward Bartlet, Former President of the United States of America

I am old. I have been out of office for over a decade, more like a decade and a half. I have not been healthy enough to go out on the road and campaign for Joe Biden but I am thrilled that decency and caring has returned to the house I occupied for eight years. The current President, a demi-god in his own mind, has been voted out. His Vice President was not a good man either. 

My tenure in the White House was filled with controversy. It should be that way for any President. If there is no controversy, then there is nothing going on. Some of the troubles were my own making and I will not deny nor should I deny it but I hope the legacy of our stay is one that we had concern for the people of the United States and worked to help people live richer lives. 

We wanted American education to be the best in the world. We worked for equality of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity. We wanted equal pay for equal work. We worked for peace in our country as well as in the world. That was a priority. None of which should seem odd and yet, for the past four years, all of that has been neglected to the wonderment of the world and to the personal benefit of the man pretending to be our leader. 

There is no doubt that my political point of view is Liberal Democrat. I ran on that platform and won twice on that platform. Former President Matt Santos was not as far left as I was but he certainly ran the White House with a Democratic perspective. It was time for the country to look toward other kinds of leadership. This is a democracy and that is the foundation of being the United States. We have the responsibility to try new things, to try new ways. 

Then every once in a while, someone glad hands their way into office without having any principles beyond whatever is good for him is good for him. That is what we have had for four years. It has been a travesty that demeaned the United States throughout the world and created a dark pall over all of us who should be proud to call ourselves Americans. 

Four years ago, I campaigned for the first woman candidate for the office of President. I was proud to do so. It is about time the office was held by a woman. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and lost the Electoral College. It was a travesty. Some of you reading this will ask me to remember that the same thing happened to me when I first ran except I lost the popular vote and won the college. It worked out in my favor and I did not complain at the time. I am complaining now. 

The Electoral College is an idea whose time has passed. Why do people in Hawaii even bother to vote? By the time their polls are closed the race has usually been called. Even with this election, the Electoral College votes of Hawaii would not make a difference. The popular vote would eliminate the weakness of small states. As a citizen of New Hampshire, I welcome that. Only when we disband the Electoral College and elect a President by popular vote will the votes in Hawaii have the meaning they are supposed to have. I have gotten off on a tangent for which I have been noted. 

In this most recent election, we have a President Elect who won both the popular vote and the Electoral College vote. There is no controversy to those who have common sense. Joseph Robinette Biden is our next President. Kamala Harris is our next Vice President. The people have decided that. Now, all we have to do is convince the current man living in the White House that it is time to pack up and go home. He is not the leader of the Free World any longer. Thank you, Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, Buddha and all the Gods of the world. Maybe now we can get back on track. 

I have not been completely silent about my absolute distaste for that person pretending to be President. That sentence proves it. The damage he has done to our world reputation will take decades to repair. The racism he boasted about will not go away simply because he is out of office. Over 450 children of immigrants who came here with their parents are still here and we don’t know where their parents are. He colluded with foreign powers that do not want the United States to be successful. He paid less in taxes than I did when I was a paperboy back in the 1950s. With his behavior, he made fascism an acceptable American policy. Now, he is gone. 

Joe Biden. I have known Joe Biden since I came to the House of Representatives. He was a Senator and had no reason to talk to a Representative from as small a state as New Hampshire. Still, he sought me out. His office called mine and asked if he could come and meet me. I have trouble believing that to this day. He cared about all of us who were new to the job. I hear he did the same thing for every newly elected official in Washington regardless of party. When I left Washington to run for Governor of New Hampshire, Joe again came to see me. I told him that it was time for me to be at home with my family and he smiled. His response to me was, “I know the feeling.” He did. There are thousands more anecdotes to tell about the humanity of Joe Biden and I am just one of the many who have those stories. Go look them up. They are all over the media now. 

I am writing this article to tell you we cannot be overjoyed about Joe’s election if we are not willing to do the work that has to be done now. All we have at the moment is the presentation of the other fork in the road. If we are to call ourselves Americans then we have to fight the good fight. It is not easy. John Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” That has never been as important as it is now. Joe can lead us but we are the people who will get us back on track. 

We, all American citizens, have been given a remarkable opportunity to positively influence our country and our world providing we take that opportunity seriously. This is not a time to gloat over victory or bemoan misfortune. It is the time to say let us get past the joy or disapproval and move on together. 

If you pay lip service to loving your country then do something about it. Get off your butt and do something that will push our country toward what it can achieve. We never needed to make American great again. It has always been great. Now we simply have to live up to the publicity we have expounded for hundreds of years. 

I am proud of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It is a return to decency, to living the American dream that we all have. We are moving in another direction, a better direction. It will be to the benefit of all if we go together. Disagreement is inevitable. Disagreement creates new ideas and that is something we want to explore. So, disagree with me but do it without name calling or belittling. Do it so we can learn from each other. 

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the future. While my long-term future is questionable, theirs is not. My only hope is that I will be at the inauguration. If not, I leave this world and my country in good hands.


End file.
